Other factors also influence the development and intensity of the allergic inflammatory response to inhaled allergen. In preliminary studies, the investigators have found that the stress associated with the final examination period in college students will enhance the eosinophilic inflammatory response to inhaled allergen. In addition, the investigators have found that during the final examination period, and independent of an allergen challenge, circulating eosinophils increase. Moreover, Marin and colleagues (2009) studied children with asthma over a two-year period and found that mononuclear cells from children who reported persistent life stress coupled with an acute stressful event produced elevated levels of asthma-promoting cytokines compared to asthmatic children without chronic stress or healthy controls. These findings suggest that the persistent stress associated with an acute stressor may promote allergic inflammatory events and that these processes include regulation of eosinophil numbers and recruitment to the lung.